Sunday, April 6, 2014

Come What May and Love It!

January 6, 2014

There
is a whiteboard hanging outside one of the doors in our apartment
complex that I pass at least twice a day when we go to exercise. The
sign reads, "may 2014 bring you all that 2013 did not." While this
phrase might be a wish for the better as the new year begins, I find
that it bothers me a little. To me it says, that we deserve things, and
also a " I want it and I want it now" mentality.

I am reminded of a
general conference talk given by Elder Joseph Worthlin. Because he said
it so well, better than I ever could, I will quote quite a bit from his
talk to help express my understanding.

"When I was young I loved playing sports, and I have many fond memories
of those days. But not all of them are pleasant. I remember one day
after my football team lost a tough game, I came home feeling
discouraged. My mother was there. She listened to my sad story. She
taught her children to trust in themselves and each other, not blame
others for their misfortunes, and give their best effort in everything
they attempted.

When we fell down, she expected us to pick ourselves up and get going
again. So the advice my mother gave to me then wasn’t altogether
unexpected. It has stayed with me all my life.

“Joseph,” she said, “come what may, and love it.”

I
think she may have meant that every life has peaks and shadows and
times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring. Yet
in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to
have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser,
and happier as a result."

I
love the advise. We all have low points in our lives, we all have
discouragements and yet this applies to all of us. He continues,

"How
can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in
the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress
discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was
suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of
pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity
can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of
greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest
happiness."

He then goes on to give us four simple things that we can try to do daily.

1.Learn to laugh

2.Seek for the eternal - There are things everyday that stretch us to
our limits, the ones that make us feel like our life is going to end or
that all hope is lost. "Learning to endure times of disappointment, suffering, and sorrow is part of our on-the-job training.
These experiences, while often difficult to bear at the time, are
precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build
our character, and increase our compassion for others.

Because Jesus Christ suffered
greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief. We
experience hard things so that we too may have increased compassion and
understanding for others."

3.The principle of compensation, "That
which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto
them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the
faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a
hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."

And
lastly, learn to trust in the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Prayer
and faith are key. Some of the answers to our prayers come later than we
expect or feel like we need, but they always come. It is just a matter
of accepting Heavenly Father's will and His timing. He is a perfect God
and knows exactly what we need, He wants to give it to us, but He knows
when will be best time for our needs.

How wonderful it is that we have a Heavenly Father to watch over us and
answer our prayers. He desires our happiness. He loves us.

Karee was trying on a pair of shorts and the clerk gave Sis Brown a visitor's pass. LOL

Karee got a new pair of shorts (during the coldest time of the year):)

Karee and Sis Brown(her companion) playing ultimate ping pong(love the nylongs under the shorts and the shoes!)

On Thursday when we were stuck inside we wore shorts and t-shirts all
day, but we had to make a run out to the car and then another run up to
the mailbox upstairs, so we just put a skirt and sweaters over our
shorts.

Karee and Sis Brown in their new Boston Massachusetts mission t-shirts

I cut Sister Brown's hair all off! Only kidding. She was wearing this
hat and I saw this wig thing sticking out of the trash can so we
couldn't help but take a funny picture.